We can recall Kirk Douglas strumming a ukulele and singing in a Disney movie, “I\u2019ve got a whale of a tale to tell you.” Well, this time of year curious San Diegans will board all sorts of boats to get close glimpses of the mass migrating pods of whales passing by, not far from our shores. And maybe they\u2019ll have tales, too. Although we can get within spouting range, scientists are still trying to learn more about them. “We don\u2019t know about their life-span in the water or their specific methods of communication,” said Kristin Evans, director of education at Birch Aquarium. “There\u2019s still a lot of mystery about these animals.”\u00a0 Regarding ship-whale collision reports, Evans said, “I can speak to the migration but not the complications they might encounter.” A few weeks ago, the carcass of a fin whale was found on the Point Loma shore, an obvious victim of a collision with a ship. “These spectacular animals travel between 12,000 and 14,000 miles from the Bering Sea, leaving in October to eventually reach Mexico\u2019s lagoons,” she said. “It\u2019s a time for humans and these huge animals to meet … hopefully it\u2019s positive. Although they begin passing here in December and early January, the largest number goes by in February. “Their return to the north in late March or April is swifter and usually farther out at sea, possibly because of a different current.” The whales aren\u2019t in a hurry, usually moving about three to five miles an hour, occasionally diving to the bottom for food. The aquarium charters Flagships Cruises\u2019 tour boats for sightseers. Passengers are likely to spot frolicking dolphins and porpoises along the way. Evans said the whales, numbering about 20,000, have been at the brink of extinction twice, but have been able to bounce back.\u00a0 Name change \u2014 The La Jolla Motor Car Classic at the Cove will now be known as the La Jolla Concours d\u2019Elegance and is scheduled for April 1. After all, that\u2019s really what it\u2019s been for the past seven years anyway. The sponsoring La Jolla Historical Society has scheduled a book signing March 30. UCSD additions \u2014 The La Jolla Playhouse has commissioned a group of current and former students from UCSD\u2019s Graduate Playwriting Program to create new pieces specifically for the production of Moving Arts\u2019 “The Car Plays: San Diego,” running Feb. 23 \u2013 March 4. Students creating new pieces specifically for the show include Jennifer Barclay, Lila Rose Kaplan, Alex Lewin and David Myers. Additionally, seven plays will be helmed by local directors: University of San Diego theater faculty member Lisa Berger, UCSD theater professor Robert Castro, Ion Theatre executive artistic director Claudio Raygoza, Mo\u2019olelo artistic director Seema Sueko, North Coast Rep artistic associate Matt Thompson, Moxie Theatre artistic director Delicia Turner-Sonnenberg and San Diego Repertory Theatre artistic director Sam Woodhouse. Performance times for “The Car Plays: San Diego” are Thursdays and Fridays at 5:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be ordered by calling (858) 550-1010 or online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org. \u2014 Johnny McDonald is a longtime writer and columnist for the San Diego Community Newspaper Group. He can be reached at johnny23@cox.net.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We can recall Kirk Douglas strumming a ukulele and singing in a Disney movie, “I\u2019ve got a whale of a tale to tell you.” Well, this time of year curious San Diegans will board all sorts of boats to get close glimpses of the mass migrating pods of whales passing by, not far from our […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Beyond Limits: Big grays still a mystery","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11560,11593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-no-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}